My kids are always looking for dessert every night. I feel like somewhere along the way I must’ve spoiled them, because I never looked for dessert when I was a kid, at least not every night.
The good news is, there is a super simple solution that they can do themselves. (Score!)
Cooking in a mug in the microwave is super easy, but tastes great. Plus, it is absolutely PERFECT on a HOT summer night when they want a treat like cake, but I won’t let them heat the oven up because my house already feels like a sauna. (sigh, how I love living in hot, humid Missouri in the summer)
My kids have discovered that often their “mug cake” can be shared between two people, which is probably more portion controlled anyway. They serve it up with some whipped cream on top and a cold glass of milk.
Mug in a Microwave: Easy Chocolate Cake
What you need:
- 4 Tbs. cake flour (for the record, we have used all purpose flour as a substitution and it works, however – the cake flour definitely makes it softer and more moist)
- 4 Tbs. sugar
- 2 Tbs. cocoa
- 1 Egg
- 3 Tbs. milk
- 3 Tbs. oil
- 1 lg. coffee mug
- Topping of choice: homemade whipped cream, caramel sauce, fresh strawberries, cinnamon, powdered sugar, etc. (optional)
Really easy directions. Grease the inside of the mug, just like you would grease a cake pan. You don’t have to do this, and not every recipe tells you to do this, but we found that if we grease the inside of the mug, it slides out easier and looks prettier. If you don’t care how it looks, skip that part.
Toss the flour, the sugar and the cocoa into the mug.
Mix them all up. Add an egg.
Stir it into the dry ingredients. Now, add the milk and oil, and mix really well.
Now put the mug into the microwave for 3 minutes. Yep. 3 minutes. Now, I won’t lie – sometimes this part can get a little messy. But then sometimes it works fine and it doesn’t go nuts. So, I’m just gonna say, the larger the mug, the better this will be (or less messy anyway).
Wait until it stops rising and sets in the mug and then using a towel or a pot holder, remove the HOT mug from the microwave and slide the contents out onto a plate. Top with homemade whipped cream or caramel sauce, or whatever you wish to serve it with. Enjoy!
P.S. Don’t overbake – you’ll get hard spots in the middle. Not so great.
